


Should've Known Better

by DarkRedWolf12



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: CHAT IS CANON, Deaf Character, Exiled Tommyinnit, Fluff and Angst, Hard of Hearing Tommyinnit, Hurt TommyInnit, Hurt/Comfort, I just really want Tommy and Techno to be bros, Idk what other tags to add we'll see, Manipulative Relationship, No betrayal here, No siree, Panic Attacks, Sibling Bonding, Sick Tommyinnit, Techno might attempt murder, Technoblade Hears Voices (Video Blogging RPF), Technoblade hears voices, They will help each other and grow and maybe comit crimes, This poor family man, TommyInnit centric, Villian Dream, and hugs, bad dad but he's trying, deaf Tommy, ghostbur shows up too, i guess, so does tommy but not as much, techno knows asl, technoblade is bad at feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 18:22:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29845596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkRedWolf12/pseuds/DarkRedWolf12
Summary: Tommy didn't think it'd be this bad.He supposes that's his problem, he didn't think.In which Tommyinnit gets away from his exile and Dream and eventually finds that Dream was in the wrong, not him. Techno and Ghostbur are his siblings and Philza is their dad. Not the best dad but he's trying alright.
Relationships: Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot and Technoblade and Tommyinnit are Siblings - Relationship
Comments: 14
Kudos: 150





	1. Boom Boom Boom

Tommy didn't think it'd be this bad. 

He supposes that's his problem, he didn't think.

Dream's in front of him, yelling about something. Tommy forces himself to listen.

"How could you do this Tommy? After everything I've done for you?"

His voice is accusatory, and Tommy can't blame him. He betrayed him, hiding a secret stash of items. He'd just wanted some items of his own, some sort of privacy. Tommy knows it was wrong of him to hide it. He can practically smell the gunpowder now. His ears were already ringing from the harsh slap that had sent him to the ground when he'd tried to stop Dream from digging up the small hidden chest. He knew they'd be ringing more in a minute.

Panicking, he instinctively begins pulling items from his pockets. A stack of wood, an axe, and a handful of other items he'd gathered yesterday. Dream continues staring at him, as if waiting for a response. Tommy can't bring himself to say anything. Should he? If he does, will it make it worse? What if he says the wrong thing?  
Should he apologize? Sometimes apologizing made it better, sometimes it made it worse. For a situation like this however... Tommy isn't sure.

He doesn't say anything. 

Dream nods at him for throwing down the items. That's something he's done right at least. Dream continues to stare down at him for a moment before he sighs, it's a tired and frustrated sound. Tommy's tired too. He's been out in exile for... Well he's not sure how long he's been out here now but he knows its been longer than a month. Maybe two. Who knows anymore. It doesn't really matter, does it? This is his life now.

Dream crouches down in front of Tommy, lowering himself to his level. In a swift motion that makes Tommy flinch a bit, expecting another hit, but he pulls out a flint and steel into his hand. They stare at each other for a moment before Tommy lowers his eyes.

He can't see the other man's face, but he thinks Dream's smiling. The sound of the flint and steel catching fire makes Tommy flinch again, and as the sound of crackling fills the air, he glances up to see the items he'd pulled out of his pockets burning. 

Tommy wants to cry. He doesn't. Knowing Dream doesn't like it when he cries, he can still feel the burn in his eyes as he tries not to. Dream's talking again and he forces himself to look away from the burning items, and over at where Dream had walked to. He didn't catch what the masked man said. Dream stands next to Ghostbur's shack, above the uncovered chest.  
Burning Tommy's other items wasn't too bad, and he knew Dream just did it because it was what he needed to do. But this?  
Surely Dream wouldn't. 

Tommy knew he would.

Working on standing, Tommy glances up as Dream pulls out tnt. The harsh smell of gunpowder fills his nose as he steps forwards. 

"Please don't," He croaks. "Dream?"

"You did this to yourself Tommy." Dream retorts, his voice monotone.

Tommy isn't able to plead anymore before the tnt is lit and dropped. 

"No!" He yells reaching forwards, trying to grab everything and anything he can. 

The explosion goes off, shoving him backwards. He hits the ground hard and his right arm and shoulder burn, his right side stings. The adrenaline in his system quickly dulls and numbs the pain and he thinks he's hyperventilating. That's bad, he can't annoy Dream anymore. He can't be selfish like this, when Dream was doing it for his own good. Why did he even try to grab the items back? He should know not to by this point. Tommy had just made it worse, hadn't he.

Tommy can't hold back the tears anymore as they flow down his cheeks, smearing the soot on his face more. Dream looks down at him and tilts his head, his mask showing no emotions. 

"You know I'm doing this for you right? I'm your best friend Tommy," Dream says evenly as he kneels down again. "But this? I don't know if I can forgive you."

The end of his sentence is said almost with a bit of a harsh laugh. 

"I- I know! I know. I just-" Tommy says between his keening breathes. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"

Dream reaches forwards and Tommy expects another hit, but Dream's hand is in his hair instead. Tommy had to have annoyed him by now. He thinks he's going to grab his hair. To twist it, to hurt him further and he braces for the pain, the tug of hurt- but- but he's not. Dream's hand gently ruffles his hair in a motion of comfort. Tommy really doesn't know how to feel now, and he feels bad as he can't help but lean into the touch.  
Dream stares down at him again, saying nothing. After a minute, he stands up.

" I know you feel bad, you regret it, but you know I've got to punish you for this right," Dream says. "Maybe you shouldn't be allowed to have anything."

Tommy can't help but think that he'd already been punished. Wasn't destroying all he owned enough already? Again, he doesn't say anything as Dream starts to walk away. Tommy focuses on calming his breaths before he looks over to see Dream over by his tent. It doesn't really work and his breath still hitches in his sore throat. Ignoring the pain, he manages to stand. Dream had already taken his items, even the secret chest. Tommy had nothing now, right? 

Dream setting tnt around the small tattered tent. No. No, he wouldn't. Right? He'd already taken Tommy's items, he'd never done anything like this before. Tommy stumbles towards him and only manages to get near before Dream speaks again, not even turning to look at him.

"Watch Tommy. I'm teaching you a lesson here, an important one." 

Dream lights the tnt and the tent immediately goes up in flames. Tommy turns his head away. For one he doesn't want to see, and for two his eyes already burn from the smoke in the air and the previous explosion. He worries about the enderchest inside, which also held important items. He wouldn't be able to get another one, unless Dream brought him one. Dream pulls his diamond axe from his back and heads over towards logstedshire. The axe tight in his hand, Tommy warily follows. He continues to say nothing. He knows his yelling will make it worse, and Dream won't stop. Dream had only been like this a few times. Once, early on, Tommy had tried to sneak an iron chest plate to keep. Dream hadn't been happy about that then either.  


He watches with more tears in his eyes as Dream steps over to the mooshroom that sits in a pen next to the main house. Tommy can barely keep himself from ranting, begging, telling the masked man not to do it. But he can't. Tommy just feels numb. His head pounds as hard as his heart as he watches. Dream takes the axe in his hand and swiftly plunges it into the mooshroom's side.  


Mooshroom Henry hadn't exactly been a pet, more of a source of food if Tommy felt like eating. But he can't help but feel the despair in his chest as he watches the red and white body fall to the ground, the hybrid cow had done nothing wrong. This was because of him. Mooshroom Henry had been the only other constant really. Aside from Dream. He visited three times a week, always at the same time in the morning. He'd woken up a few times to Dream peeking through the tent down at him. He'd learned to get up earlier to avoid that. It wasn't a bad thing, but he just didn't like Dream berating him for being lazy and sleeping in. Either way, Ghostbur had left a long while ago, and no one else really visited.  


Dream then pulls out more tnt and begins setting it around. He just continues to stare, tears streaking down his face as the last few are placed. Tommy realizes almost too late as the tnt is lit that he needs to get away before it goes off, he'd already taken enough damage from the first two explosions. In a split second thought, he wonders if he should. What if he just let the explosion go off on him? He doesn't really get a choice then as it blows, and he's thrown to the ground for the umpteenth time that day.

His ears ring and he can feel something wet and hot on his head. Whatever pain he'd felt before felt like nothing. He curls into a ball on the ground and tries not to cry more. 

The smell of gunpowder now almost completely fills the nearby air. Tommy gags on it, covering his face as best he can with his better arm. 

He realizes Dream is speaking, but he can barely focus through the fuzz in his head, much less the ringing in his ears. Dream had been smart enough to duck behind the nearby nether portal and had taken little to no damage so far Tommy noticed.

"-okay?" He questions.

Tommy doesn't have much context so he just stares up at him weakly. 

"Don't do it again." Dream enunciates.

Tommy thinks it's over, and continues to just lay there. He watches with unfocused eyes as Dream walks over to his nether portal while pulling out an enchanted diamond pick-axe. After a quick check that Tommy's watching, of course he is, Dream swings the pick-axe into the side of the portal with as much force as he can.

The purple sheen in the center of the ring of black obsidian fizzles. Dream swings again. And again. After the first few hits, the portal is out, but he keeps swinging. Dream takes 2 of the pieces of obsidian from the side and bottom. Tommy has nothing now, much less a diamond pick-axe or obsidian. Both of them are sure there's no way he can repair the portal.

"You're not allowed to the nether, alright," Dream says finally. The masked man takes a labored breath before turning to Tommy again. "and no one's allowed to visit now. Like I said, you did this to yourself Tommy. Look at what Tubbo did to you- what Techno and the others did! I'm all you have now- and I'm just trying to help you! But, you can't hide stuff like this from me, okay?"

Tommy just nods, and realizes he's expected to verbally answer. Dream doesn't like mumbling. There's a lot of things Dream doesn't like Tommy to do. He doesn't like thinking about it.

"O- okay. I promise I won't Dream," Tommy starts, and he can't stop. "I won't do it again. Please don't leave me, I'm sorry. I know it's my fault."

His voice breaks and trails off on the last few words, but Dream lets it slide and doesn't mention anything about it. Tommy can't help but be thankful for that. 

"Good." Dream approves as he starts walking off, towards the shoreline. 

Tommy can barely sit up but he forces himself to.

"Are you," He coughs, cutting himself off. The smoke and gunpowder is still heavy in the air. "Are you leaving?"

Dream doesn't even glance back. "I think you need some time-out time Tommy. But don't worry, I'll be back." He says simply, almost reassuringly, as he puts a boat into the shifting water.

"When?" Tommy asks, the single word a struggle to say. 

He's almost afraid Dream will consider it talking back, it's obvious Dream's done with him right now. He shouldn't continue to instigate conversation. But, he can't help but ask. Dream is all he has now.

The green man pauses for a moment before actually turning to look at him. His green clothes are a bit torn at the edge where it'd stuck out from his hiding spot. The white mask he always wears is smeared with grey and cracked in a corner where a stray shard must've hit. He doesn't seem hurt in anyway though. Tommy is glad he isn't hurt at least, before he wonders if Dream should be hurt. The thought twists in his mind. 

"A few days." 

Then he's in the boat and before long, he's gone. 

Tommy doesn't move. 

He almost waits for him to come back, to turn around. But there's nothing, no one. He's surrounded by smoke and ash, and he's truly alone now.


	2. Cold Cold Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy has some mental and physical troubles as he tries to figure out what to do next.
> 
> But, Tommy manages to get to Techno's house! Pog
> 
> (warning? : I describe some of his wounds and him getting sick but it's nothing too graphic so. Ye)

He'd been sitting on the ground staring at nothing for a while now. Tommy thinks he should move, or do something. But he can't bring himself to.

He's unsure of what to do now. It's hard to think, and for a few moments he's confused about where he is. The ringing in his ears is still extremely loud. His head pounds as it feels filled with a heavy pressure, as if he were deep underground. Thinking it through, he remembers the blasts. 

Oh yeah. He’s in exile. In Logstedshire.

Everything hurts. 

At the thought he frowns down at his right arm. He finds his hand is all pink, and feels like a bad sunburn. The bit of his arm that had caught the most of the blast was from above his wrist to about his elbow. His shoulder too is red, and not from his shirt sleeve. Tommy decides not to look. His blurry eyes glance around, down at his feet.

With his right shoe still missing, there's a large cut across the top of his foot. Probably from debri from the blasts. 

Blasts?

His head hurts too. Reaching to the back of his head, his hand meets a warm and wet substance. Checking he finds that it's blood. Huh. Confused, he realizes that it's wet under his ears as well. Leaking from his right ear is a weird clear liquid mixed with blood. His left ear is leaking too, but much less than his other ear. But, that doesn't make sense right? The blood from the back of his head couldn't go over that far. Was it coming from his ears? Was that why everything sounded weird, why the ringing wouldn't stop? He decides he really doesn't want to think about that. He'll give it some time, and deal with it later. Just ignore his problems. 

Yeah. That sounds good.

He decides he's done taking stock of his wounds, as he's pretty sure he won't immediately keel over and die. Pretty sure. 

With his right arm pressed against his chest, he steadies himself with his good arm. Tommy tries to stand then, only to immediately stop. His stomach turns and bile rises in his throat. This really wasn't good. He just wants to lay on the cooling ground and sleep. Cool ground? It takes him a moment to realize why that's weird. 

Normally due to the warm ocean water and the sun of the biome he’s in, it stayed decently warm during the day, except for when the wind picked up. He looks up and realizes it’s evening time. The sun hasn’t set yet, but he’s probably only got a good hour or so before it does.

Just how long had he been sitting there? It had been day before, right? He shakes his head gently, trying to clear his thoughts, and realizes that was a really bad idea. Shutting his eyes he freezes as he really, really, tries not to throw up. The nausea rises in his throat again and he internally groans.

Opening his eyes as the nausea fades, he gets confused again as to why he’s sitting on the ground. Right. He’s hurt. He needs to move.

The fact he keeps getting confused is definitely concerning. Well actually, everything right now is concerning. A bit of panic washes over him. With his focus waning he grabs onto the main thought in his head. Help. He needs help. 

He thinks hard, trying to remember what happened. It doesn’t really work. Panic threatens to over take his mind again as he realizes he doesn’t remember what happened or how he got into this situation of sitting on the ground hurt. His fuzzy brain tries to cling onto the idea that it doesn’t matter right now, and he just needs help. 

Thinking about his options, he realizes he doesn’t have many. Dream had visited, right? Even if he hadn’t today, it’d be another day or two before he came back. He’s not allowed back to L’Manberg or the main SMP. Unless he snuck in and stole. He takes a glance at his portal only for his hopes to sink as his portal too is damaged. So that’s not an option. Could he walk? He doesn’t think he’d last long enough to travel out that way on land though, and the thought of rowing across the ocean makes his stomach squeeze again. No, L’Manberg and anything that direction were not good options. 

Noone else lived out this way. Could he find a village? Maybe they’d help him. Wracking what little semblance of rational thought his brain had however, he doesn’t think there’s any nearby villages. He’d ventured around his new home in the early days and hadn’t found much aside from trees, flowers, and a handful of friendly mobs; Like Mooshroom Henry. 

Oh. Mooshroom Henry. Was he okay?

He looks up at the wreckage around him and finds he highly doubts the hybrid survived. Tears prick his eyes and he tries to keep thinking over his options for help instead. Gods his head hurt. Trying not to cry did not help that fact. So, the nearest village that he did know about would definitely be too far. Wait. There was someone who lived out this way... Although he’d only been to the house once before, but, didn’t Techno live up north in the snow biome?

Absolutely not, he thinks. Techno will kill him if he finds Tommy in his house. 

But, on the other hand, Techno was a warrior. A paranoid one at that. Even in retirement Tommy is sure he will have regen, health, strength, and other potions in stock. Not to mention bandages and other helpful items. Maybe he can just look around, sneak in and sneak out? 

But Techno will kill him if he finds him.

But if he doesn’t go, Tommy could die here too.

He tries to reassure himself that he won’t die just sitting here, but with the way every part of his body aches and the amount of blood on his clothes, well... 

Damn it, he really doesn’t want either option. Although, stealing from Techno could be funny. He’s going to be hurt either way, right? Might as well go with the more interesting option than just sitting around waiting for Dream to return to help him. Fuck it.

Tommy keeps his eyes mostly closed as he uses his good arm to get to his knees. And then his feet. The movement is awful and this time he does throw up, unable to keep it down a third time. He feels a bit better after that. 

Stumbling a bit he turns to get his bearings and leans against a nearby tree for support. He really wants to get back down on the ground and sleep, but he knows he can’t. Upon standing up he’s able to see the damage better. There’s craters everywhere. It looks like tnt had been set off just about everywhere. The largest crater is where the main building of Logstedshire, and Mooshroom Henry, had been. There’s another big one where his tent was, one next to and into Ghostbur’s shack, and a few scattered smaller holes around. Debri is everywhere. It all looked awful. 

This had been his fresh start. Sure being exiled sucked, but he had hoped he could build his own place. Get away from all the war and destruction. Mimic Technoblade’s retirement in a way. Look at where that had left him. Tommy knew then that he could never escape the violence of this world.

With that truly optimistic thought, he cautiously pushed himself off the tree. He swayed dangerously at the movement. Gritting his teeth in pain and fear at falling, he grabbed another nearby tree. Everything was fine. He started off in the direction he thought was north, grabbing various trees or rocks to rest and lean against as he went. Everything had begun to hurt and throb since the adrenaline worn off, so moving sucked even more now. His head continued to pound, and his sight and hearing still hadn’t improved much either. The ringing in his ears continued. Not to mention he felt sick to his stomach. Tommy kept walking.

Eventually, he comes to a bit of a clearing where the snow biome ahead fades into the biome he’s currently in. The cold comes as a bit of a surprise but he’s not sure why. Of course the snow biome would be cold, it was a snow biome. He glances around but he doesn’t have any other sort of protection than his torn clothes. Tommy figures he should’ve thought this through better but, he’d wasted precious time sitting around and it would be night soon enough. Tommy had to either continue or turn around.

The thought that he’s leaving his exile to find Techno’s house suddenly washes a horrible feeling of fear of realization over him and he pauses. If Dream found out he’d be so pissed. If Techno found out he’d be so pissed.

So don’t let Dream find out, don’t let Techno find out, His brain retorts. It’s fine.

Fine then.

He needs to steal and hide from Techno, and let no one know he was out this way. Easy.

Stepping into the snow and the cold, he keeps stumbling forwards. The snow really doesn’t help his balance issues right now. Even though he’s just crossed the biome border, his breath already becomes small clouds in front of his face. The cold of the air is a shock compared to the warmth of the ocean he lives by, and it almost hurts to breath. He’s sure that that mixed with the gunpowder and smoke he had inhaled earlier made for a great mix in his lungs as he coughs. 

He continues a bit of a ways before the world around him starts to grow dark. For a moment he worries he’s blacking out. Wait no, it’s the sun setting. He wants to stop, to take a break and just stop moving. He’s so tired. But he knows if he does he won’t be able to keep going. Keep going where? The thought actually makes him pause as he realizes he doesn’t know where he’s going, or what he’s doing. Tommy blinks and stares blearily at the darkened forest. He can hear nearby mobs starting to spawn and shuffle around. 

In the dark, thankfully with the help of the moon, he can see the skeleton moving around under a tree in front of him. That’s not good. Tommy slowly trudges through the snow to his left, aiming to dodge around the skeleton’s vision. He had been walking in this direction, right? So he keeps heading the same way he had been. 

Only after beginning to walk away from the skeleton does he realize the skeleton isn’t making noise. 

That’s… weird. 

Skeleton’s always make a clunky noise when moving around. He realizes then that he can’t really hear much of anything. Not his feet moving the snow below him, or the wind, or the mobs, or shifting forest around him. The ringing in his ears was still definitely there, but there’s not much else he can hear past it. Tommy decides it must just be because he can’t hear because of the loud ringing. Once it fades, he’ll be able to hear then. Right? It’s fine. Everything’s fine. 

He makes sure to keep his blurry eyes less towards the ground and more at the area around him. Can’t afford to run into and die to a stupid mob now. After a while of walking in the snow, dodging various mobs, Tommy found with vague relief that his aching body had begun to become numb, though it doesn’t stop him from continuing to shake. The thin t-shirt he wore paired with his khaki shorts, one shoe and no socks definitely helped speed up that process. Somewhere in his mind he knows that’s probably a bad sign. He can’t bring himself to care. The bare remnants of his energy and mental focus goes towards just walking forwards. He just has to keep walking. 

Eventually he hits a large snowy plains. There’s a few frozen ponds around and not much else. However, not many mobs had spawned out this way just yet. As he stumbles out into the plains, Tommy finds that the wind was much stronger here outside of the tree line. Every breath hurt, with the biting cold and sudden stronger winds filling his lungs and grating against his throat. Great. His right arm was still stuck up against his chest. He’d been using his left arm to lean against trees and various things to help keep himself upright, but now he uses his shaking hand to cover his mouth and frozen nose. He tries breathing into it, to warm his face and hand. It doesn’t do much to help. 

His mind blanks and numbs as much as his body as he continues walking. He’s so tired. Without any trees or rocks to lean onto in the clearing, he ends up falling pretty quickly. Vaguely, he’s surprised he didn’t fall earlier. 

While his body had already been pretty cold, hitting the snow is so, so much worse. Holy crap. His pants and shirt are completely soaked now. The snow mixed with the wind feels like a shock to his body and he manages to push himself up. He wants to sleep so badly, and falling sucked, but the shock of getting soaked is what he needed to keep going. He thinks about wandering back into the tree line so he can keep walking without falling, but if he walks too far off he doesn’t think he’ll remember which direction he was going. Actually, where was he going? He still can’t remember that. Or what happened. 

As he stumbles on, he hunches into himself in order to try and keep some body heat. He decides to think about something else as he continues forwards. So, he thinks about Tubbo. That’s a good thought. He hopes Tubbo isn’t out in this cold and that he’s doing alright. But his thoughts start to wander and he remembers his exile. 

Tubbo had yelled at Dream to stop hurting Tommy as Dream forced him out of L’Manberg, Tubbo had wanted to try to keep it civil, but he hadn’t done anything else to help him. He remembers that Tubbo’s face had been sad at watching Tommy go, before it had changed to no emotion at all. Did Tubbo regret throwing him out? Dream had told him he hadn’t. Tommy doesn’t like that thought at all. It had always been him and Tubbo, right? But, Tubbo hadn’t visited him at all in exile. 

Tubbo probably regretted his decision. 

Probably. 

Tommy didn't know anymore. 

He thinks about Techno then, and how he had told Tommy that government corrupts. Tommy can’t help but think that he was right. He hated it when his older brother was right. Especially over something like this.

Oh yeah, Techno.

He remembers he was looking for his house. Full circle bitch. 

Just as he thinks about it, Tommy notices a large rectangular building ahead. It’s white and almost blends into the snow around it, except for the brown of the stairs and supports on it. Awesome, he found what he was looking for. Even though it’s not that far ahead, it takes Tommy quite a bit longer than he thought it would to get there. The snow really doesn’t help. 

He can’t help but feel a bit invigorated as he pulls himself up the stairs. It’s awkward as he can’t use his right arm, his brain is still mush, and he has to slide up the steps backwards; But he gets there. Thankfully the front door is unlocked. Stepping quietly and quickly into the house, he realizes no one’s home. And the fact it’s just as cold as outside, except the wind isn’t able to get in. 

Finally able to lean on something solid again, he makes his way further into the house after shutting the door behind him. It's dark inside, and he stumbles a bit while he gets his bearings. He’s in a kitchen he thinks, and ahead appears to be a living room. The full moon outside the window makes it bright enough for him to see the outline of a table and chairs to his right, counters to his left. Using the kitchen counters as support, he manages to get to the living room doorway. In the back right corner is a barely illuminated set of stairs. To his left in the far corner is a fireplace. Beside it is a stack of logs, as well as a basket of sticks and what appears to be crumpled pieces of wool.

He manages to get over and kneel in front of the fireplace and with his shaking hand shoves some wood into it. Warmth is what he needs right now. Grabbing some of the branches and wool, he stuffs those in near the base of one of the logs. Normally he’d create some fancier and probably more efficient placement of the logs, but he doesn’t care enough to try now.

He needs something to start the fire. As thinks about it, the thought of starting a fire begins to make his mind race, and he feels more nauseous again at the thought of deliberately starting one. But, it’s fine. It’s for warmth and he needs it. Reassuring himself that it’s fine, it won’t hurt him, he remembers hitting his hand on something in the basket when pulling out the wool. He fumbles with it until he finds a flint and steel tucked into the basket. 

It takes him a few tries. Lighting a flint and steel with one hand normally is difficult, and that’s when he isn’t shaking violently. As soon as the wool catches he pulls himself backwards and drops the flint onto the front of the fireplace. He worries for a moment that it won’t catch and he’ll have to start the process all over again, but it does. The wool burns quickly and then the branches catch. Once the fire begins to lick at the bottom of the logs does he turn away. It's too bright in the darkness of the room. The fire can handle itself from there he’s pretty sure. He doesn’t want to look at the flames anymore. 

To his right, next to the fireplace and against the wall, is a couch. He can see it now in the flickering light. The couch is large and looks incredibly soft and inviting. There’s even a thick woven blanket thrown across the armrest closest to him. But Tommy can’t bring himself to stand up again. It’s a wonder he managed to even get here. He’s absolutely exhausted. Tommy doesn’t think he’s been this tired in his life. 

So, he lays on the cold hard wood floor. After a few tries, his frozen fingers manage to pull the blanket hanging off of the couch closer towards him. Gravity does the rest of the work, and it falls just above his head. Quickly, as quickly as he can, he pulls the lump of blanket half haphazardly over himself. Shivering still, he curls up and remembers that he was supposed to find potions, or bandages. He should really try to do that. If anything, Techno could be home at any moment, even though it seemed he hadn’t been home for at least a few days. He should leave. But, his eyes slip shut. While he’d managed to continue this far, he really, really, can’t be bothered to do anything else. He wants to sleep forever. 

And with that, he drifts off to the warmth of the fire in front of him crackling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man I had a lot of trouble w this chapter bc I wanted to research and figure out how his wounds would work, and I think it'd be interesting to have a hoh Tommy. c:
> 
> Next chapter will probably be more Techno centric, and I want to do some stuff with Phil back in L'Manberg eventually too. 
> 
> I've decided I don't want to work on this chapter anymore either way, so here ya go. Take it lol
> 
> edit : I edited the end a bit bc I realized some mistakes oops


	3. Techno's Not Happy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Techno gets a warning from the voices that something's wrong with Tommy, so he rushes as best he can to get back from his journey to get totems of undying.
> 
> Techno is Not Happy
> 
> Warning? : Techno panics and some vague description of Tommy's wounds. Nothing terrible here

The snow falls around him in drifts. The sun is high in the sky, reflecting off of the snow and trees. Carl startles under him as a bit of snow falls off a nearby tree. Reaching forwards, the warrior gently pats the horse’s neck in an attempt at comfort. Techno had been out venturing for about three days now. Dream had shown up and given him a map, and who was Techno to not try to follow it; With the promise of totems of undying, and being able to kill to satiate the bloodlust voices in his head for a bit, why not? 

He’s traveling back towards home, about a few hours out from his cabin still. There had been little trouble in defeating every illiger he found in the mansion, and the terrain isn’t too rough. Two totems are safe in the bag at his side. A good trip all in all he thinks. 

And then voices in his head explode. 

Perhaps not literally, but his brain feels like it.

All he sees is red as Techno falls forwards, clutching at Carl’s neck like a lifeline so he doesn’t fall off while he tries to discern what the hell Chat is yelling about. Carl pauses in his movement, recognizing the hoglin’s distress. There’s too many of them in his head. It’s just a cacophony of sound and Techno has to close his eyes to try and help ward off the onslaught of a headache. It doesn’t really work. The only context he can get from their tones is that the voices are absolutely pissed and worried about something. Or someone. For a moment he’s concerned they’re warning him, and that he might be attacked. But he doesn’t think that’s it. It’s something else, or someone else, far from here. He isn’t sure how the voices are able to know things he doesn’t, but he has come to live and listen to them in times like these.

Finally, he picks up some words.

Blood for the blood god! Blood! Technohelp! Tommy! Blood! That asshole!

“What the hell are you guys yelling about.” He groans, still unmoving. 

Carl shifts a bit underneath him. The movement does not help and he tries to relay that info to the horse by tightening his grip. The horse seems to pick up on it as he stands still once more. 

With that somewhat resolved, Techno’s mind turns back to the voices. The fact some of them are saying Tommy’s name does not bode well. Last Techno had heard about his younger brother, he had been exiled. Techno had visited him once early on. He had laughed at Tommy’s misfortune. He had made sure to tell him a variation of ‘I told you so.’ But that had been a few months ago. He can’t help but regret that now. 

“Is Tommy okay?” He grunts.

The voices aren’t very helpful in most cases, as they tend to like to make jokes at Techno’s expense. Or beat around the bush not answering his questions. Even now they were being unaccommodating, the voices an unconsolable discordance in his head. That isn’t helpful, he growls. He asks the same question again. The only useful thing he gets is a resounding group of “nos.” 

Well that’s not good.

It had been a few minutes, and while fear clutched at his heart in worry for what had happened to his little brother, Techno still hadn’t moved. His head wasn’t as bad now, but the voices were still going. It had been a while since they had last been riled up like this. They had voiced their worry and anger quite a few times over Tommy’s time being exiled over the past few months, but never like this. He usually managed to calm them, and himself, by telling them that Tommy could handle himself. He isn’t sure whatever Tommy’s dealing with now however is something to be dealt with alone. Techno is now officially concerned. He huffs before speaking again.

“I need you guys to shut up, I can’t ride like this. I’m going to go check on Tommy, alright?”

The voices seem to realize what he means as they quiet down a bit. Some then begin yelling at one another to shut up. Hypocrites. Techno would have laughed if he weren’t so worried. 

“Seriously guys?” He groans.

As soon as his head was clear enough to continue, he clicked Carl’s reins. Before they had been at a nice trot. Now Techno had Carl going almost full speed. He knows the horse can’t keep such a speed up for long, but he wants to get as much distance between himself and wherever Tommy is as he can. He’s still at least a few hours out. Techno almost wants to ask where Tommy is, even knowing the voices won’t ever give him an exact answer. Specifics like that were hard for them to give him. He supposes having omnipotent voices in his head that could tell him everything at any time would be a bit much. Doesn’t mean it isn’t frustrating, he thinks. 

Continuing to ride, Techno angles their path towards where he thinks Tommy is living in exile. If he continued forwards, he would hit his own house eventually, so he angled left. Tommy was down by the coast he knew. And he wasn’t the personification of a GPS for nothing. Thankfully, the voices quiet a bit more at this choice. He takes that as a good sign. Techno had gotten all the info he needed. Well, maybe not. It’d be nice to know what happened exactly, and who and where; but if his little brother was in trouble, not having info like that wouldn’t stop him. 

The snowy trees eventually fade out into what could be considered a regular forest. The air is warmer and smells like damp leaves and he thinks it’s going to rain again soon. It feels like it in the air at least. The warmth is pleasant compared to the cold he had grown used to, but he knows once he gets closer, it will be warmer near the coast. He one-handedly pulls his cloak off preemptively, his other hand holding onto his saddle so he doesn’t fall off. 

Carl had galloped as fast as possible. Techno had worried the horse would hurt himself, and tries to convince them they should take a break at a certain point. Although he wants to get there quickly, it won’t help anyone if his beloved horse got hurt in the process. But Carl is a smart horse, and sensing Techno’s own concern, had slowed his gait a bit but continued on anyway. Techno decides not to push the idea of taking a break. 

The journey feels like it was much longer than a few hours, and at the same time it feels as if only a few minutes. Still a bit away, the voices begin clamoring again as the sun begins to sink lower on the horizon. Techno disregards their outbreak this time, misinterpreting their concern for panic at the sun going down. 

Don’t worry, he thinks, we’ll be there soon. 

The voices don’t listen. They continue to be a brooding ball of feelings in his head instead. 

But finally, finally, Techno can smell the salt in the air. It takes a few minutes before the treeline opens up onto the grass, and just ahead, the beach. The waves crash to his left, eating away at the sand. But he can’t hear it. All he hears is his heartbeat in his ears, and all he can feel is pure rage as he gets closer. The voices begin murmuring louder again in blood-lust and fear. Just ahead he can see small wisps of smoke and the remnants of buildings. 

This does not bode well for Tommy. 

Nor whoever had done this.

Techno highly doubts Tommy would blow up his own stuff. Tommy had always been a bit loud and destructive, the fire inside of the kid sometimes acting out. But no, he wouldn’t do something like this. Even though Techno had visited only once early on in the kid’s exile, he had already been protective of his little tent and the start of his little new home. And Techno had made fun of him for it. Regret cuts through the rage in his mind like a knife. He promptly ignores it. Regret is not something he normally feels, and not something he will allow himself to feel now. Techno clings to the rage instead as he hops off Carl’s back, staring around with wide eyes. Carl sticks to Techno’s side as he walks around, ears flicking in fear. 

The area around him is well destroyed. It looks almost like a battle ground. The voices continue chanting for blood and he tries to push down the need to kill something as he looks around for any clues on Tommy’s whereabouts. Having killed many illigers recently, it thankfully makes it easier to do so. 

Logstedshire’s main building and outer walls are properly blown up. Some remnants of the primary walls are still standing, but everything around them is just a huge crater. There’s a shack to his right that had met a similar fate, although a bit less than half of it was still standing. Where he thinks Tommy’s tent had last been, is another smaller crater. Holes dot the earth as well as various pieces of debris. Chunks of wood and cobble, the head of a pickaxe, pieces of what he thinks was an anvil that had split in the heat, but no Tommy. 

Although he’s sure this had all taken place when the voices had built up into a frenzy a few hours earlier, in the warm salty air he can still discern a specific smell. While he could have guessed by glancing around, the smell confirms his fears. Tnt. He knows the scent well. With a deeper scowl he quickly scans the wreckage again, and still doesn’t find Tommy.

“Tommy?” He calls.

The only response is the waves and his heartbeat now stuck in his throat. 

He does however, find blood. There’s some next to the half standing shack, and more in a pool towards the beach. A bloody handprint on a nearby tree and stains of red on the ground is the only clue he really gets of a direction to head in. Techno is sure the blood is Tommy’s. The smell of gunpowder and the blood is enough to make Techno want to rip everything around him apart. 

He has to control himself. 

He can do such things later, right now all that matters is Tommy. 

Tommy, Tommy, Tommy! The voices yell in agreement.

With that thought, he follows the blood trail. It takes a few minutes of him following it to realize it leads towards the snow biome, towards his home. The trace of rain he had caught earlier is much more intense now and he stiffens a bit as it begins to drizzle. He hops back onto his loyal steed before getting Carl to carry on in the same direction towards the snow biome. While the cold wasn’t great, snow wouldn’t soak him like the rain would. And being wet and cold would not help the situation much more. Techno was already exhausted and aching from riding for so long. He can only wonder how Carl is holding up. Giving the horse’s neck a gentle pat of thanks he gets a gentle whinny in return. 

As he reaches the snow biome he pulls his cloak back on for warmth. The sun finally begins to set through the trees around him. From here it’s a bit less than an hour's ride to his home, but he doesn’t know where Tommy is. The kid could have just wandered off in a random direction, which seems highly likely. In the low light, he catches footprints that are beginning to be covered by the newly falling snow. They’re only a little off if he were to be heading towards Techno’s cabin, and Techno finds himself hopeful. It won’t take too long before it will be too dark for him to see the tracks however, plus the snow coming down. The snow fall isn’t too heavy yet, so Techno takes what he can get and follows. 

The trail is wobbly, it looks like Tommy is limping. Every here and there he can see drops and smears of red on the white of the ground. Tommy’s bleeding still, by the smears it’s likely a leg wound. Probably the cause of the limping. Techno files those thoughts away for future use. 

The footprints are not off only in Tommy’s movements, but also in direction. Techno’s hope that Tommy had remembered enough to maybe head towards his home continues. He knows his cabin is the nearest place of refuge, as any other nearby civilization is too far away to get to on foot easily. And that’s even without Tommy’s injuries interfering with his ability to travel. 

It’s almost completely dark now, but the moon gives him enough light to see so they don’t end up running into a tree or hostile mobs. 

Eventually he comes to realize that he is headed away from his house and his hope falters a bit. At this point, the tracks are beginning to fill with snow and it’s making it harder for him to follow. Even though Tommy’s limping would not be considered a good thing, the heavy footsteps have made the footprints last longer than Techno thinks they normally would in this weather. In what he can still make out, Tommy had at a certain point for some reason walked in a wide berth around a tree, and then continued in a slightly different direction. These new footprints head towards his house, and Techno’s hope flares again. 

As he gets closer to make doubly sure that they are going the right way, an arrow wizzes past Techno’s head. The piglin hybrid barely flinches, but he’d be lying if he said the arrow hadn’t scared him. Too stuck in his own head at the moment. He growls in frustration at the monster, and himself. The voices poke a bit of fun at him for flinching and he rolls his eyes in mock frustration. Carl takes a few nervous prancing steps and Techno is quick to reassure him with a quick ‘it’s alright boy.’

A skeleton stands a few feet away from Techno and Carl. It stares with empty eyes and readies its bow to fire once more. The voices in his head begin to clamor for its death. But, Techno can’t bring himself to care enough to do so. Trying to kill the skeleton will take time, which is something he does not have much to spare. Who knows how long Tommy had been out in the cold ahead of him. 

The thought almost shocks him. Normally he would never give up the chance to kill something. His thoughts turn back to Tommy and worry much quicker than anger now. The voices joke with him again about it, or at least they try to, in an attempt to cheer him up. He ignores them this time, not wanting their pity. They seem concerned over Techno more than Tommy now, if that is even possible at this point. He takes their joking and change in concern as a hint that Tommy is alright. Techno thinks if his little brother had begun to freeze to death, they would have been yelling at him more to hurry up like they had earlier on in the day.

Either way, he easily dodges the next arrow, and leads Carl around the skeleton. These fading footprints definitely lead closer towards Techno’s house. Carl seems to know where they’re heading, and his speed picks up a bit as he tries to beeline towards their home. Techno had so far been correcting the horse to follow his lead on the tracks in the snow, but now he lets Carl lead the way. 

He can only hope Tommy found the cabin, otherwise he might find a cold and bloody body laid out in the snow. The thought had crossed his mind earlier, but he had yet to find anything unusual in the ever expansive white ground and trees around him. Techno tries not to keep the image in his mind as he continues on, eyes tracing the snow around him still on the lookout. 

The snow continues to fall, finally covering up Tommy’s tracks ahead. Techno glances behind and finds that his own newer trail has been mostly covered as well. Carl takes them out of the treeline and Techno knows they’ll be by the house in a few minutes. He hopes again that Tommy is nearby. He had grown used to living in the cold over time, but now as his breath came in small puffs of clouds, he can’t help but shiver. Techno needs to warm himself up, but the worry for Tommy overtakes his own bodily concerns. Tommy could still be out in this cold. 

Carl picks up his pace again, the cabin quickly coming into view ahead. At this the voices finally give him a hint, letting him know that that is the correct direction through their mixed worry. He sighs in relief. Maybe Tommy did find his home, and he had yet to find a body on the cold ground. Even more thankful, not many mobs had spawned out this way. It was one of the nicer things about the freezing biome, hostile mobs disliked the cold as much as other people did. Techno doesn’t mind it much though.

Getting closer to his home, Techno realizes there’s smoke coming from the chimney, and a dim light coming from the living room window. The voices cheer a bit as Carl gets close enough to the home for Techno to slide from the horse's back. He groans a bit as he hits the ground, aching from his time in the saddle. Techno puts Carl into his pen as quickly as possible, not wanting to leave him out in the snow unprotected. Carl steps into the pen, and goes over to the corner by the house and leans by his heater as Techno turns it on. 

His thoughts waver as he shuts the gate behind him; he wonders if it’s Phil inside, and not Tommy. The thought freezes his heart and he isn’t sure what he would do if Tommy wasn’t inside. Besides, he reassures himself, Phil wouldn’t have come without alerting him first. Phil was respectful like that. The voices also give him reassurance, so he steps around the house towards the front door.

Tramping up the steps leading to his front door, Techno slides only a little in the layer of snow on stone in his hurry. The door is unlocked, and he steps inside. He locks it behind himself in habit more than anything. Besides, he hopes to the gods he won’t have to go back out again tonight.

“Phil,” He calls warily in the dark kitchen, his eyes already adjusted to the night outside. “Tommy?”

There’s no response, so Techno heads to the living room where the fireplace is and where the light is coming from. A soft crackling fills the air and he expects almost to hear Phil’s snores. But he doesn’t. A bundle of blankets lays in front of the fireplace in the shape of a curled up person. In the low light he can see that parts of the white and brown blanket have red mixed in. Techno holds his breath as he kneels down and moves the cloth back from the body’s head. 

Blond hair greets him and he sees an ashen face covered in soot and blood. Tear tracks make their way down his cheeks, easily seen through the gore around it. With a shaking hand, he puts two cold fingers to the kid’s neck. He feels Tommy flinch a little at the contact, but he doesn’t wake, and finds a slow but steady heartbeat under his fingertips. Techno lets out the breath he was holding and thanks the gods. The voices murmur in the background, but Techno could care less what they were saying. At least they were staying quieter than normal. He stares at Tommy for a moment longer before he pulls the rest of the blanket away from Tommy’s shivering body and takes in his wounds. 

Tommy has lost a lot of blood, and is in horrible shape. His thin clothes are torn and barely holding onto his thin frame. From where his shirt had hiked up from him moving the blanket, Techno can see the kid’s ribs. Still shivering himself, Techno shifts over and throws more logs onto the fire before going to the kitchen. He doesn’t bother turning on any lights, opting to use his muted night vision and knowledge of his home to find what he needs. Going off his mental list, he fills a pot with room temperature water. Then a second one. He grabs rags, and then bandages, and potions, and anything else he thinks he will need. Techno doesn’t spend long away from Tommy, afraid to leave him alone. 

Tommy looks so small and young and hurt; and Techno has to swallow the lump in his throat as he gets started. 

It’s going to be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> c:
> 
> Poor Techno, and poor Tommy huh
> 
> I have horrible concept of time so sorry this took me a bit to get back to writing  
> I slept 4 hrs last night and just wrote this in like 2 hrs lets goooooo  
> If there's any typos or mistakes pls tell me bc I don't proof read lmao, we post and die inside like men
> 
> have a good day my dude's, gals, and non binary pals- be safe and don't forget to drink water and unclench ur jaw c:

**Author's Note:**

> I literally haven't written fic in foreverrrrr. Much less really written anything. If there's mistakes, no there aren't lol. (Lemme know if there are tho)
> 
> Almost forgot I had this account. But I really wanted to write some angst for this sooo here ya go I guess


End file.
